DL Open Thread: Thursday, March 6, 2025
Why Dems Suck: Item Infinity Plus One. Have you ever noticed that, when Dems select someone to respond to a Trump speech, they find someone so inoffensive that nobody could possibly be inspired by what they say? Enter Sen. Elissa Slotkin:
And to her credit, Slotkin reminded people that Elon Musk is an unaccountable über-bureaucrat leading a “gang of 20-year-olds” who are rummaging through the personal data of millions of Americans. As a senator from a state bordering Canada, she asked if Americans are comfortable kicking our sister nation in the teeth.
So what’s not to like? Slotkin—like so many in her party lately—failed to convey any sense of real urgency or alarm. Her speech could have been given in Trump’s first term, perhaps in 2017 or 2018, but we are no longer in that moment. The president’s address was so extreme, so full of bizarre claims and ideas, exaggerations and distortions and lies, that it should have called his fitness to serve into question. He preened about a Cabinet that includes some of the strangest, and least qualified, members in American history. Although his speech went exceptionally long, he said almost nothing of substance, and the few plans he put forward were mostly applause bait for his Republican sycophants in the room and his base at home.
Slotkin’s best moment was when she pleaded with people to do more than be mere observers of politics, and said that doomscrolling on phones isn’t the same thing as genuine political engagement. And she issued her own Reaganesque call to remember that America is not just “a patch of land between two oceans,” that America is great because of its ideals. But her admonition to her fellow citizens not to fool themselves about the fragility of democracy, while admirable, was strangely detached from a specific attack on the source of that menace.
Did Americans vote for Kash Patel to lead the FBI, or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services, or Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense? Trump took time to recognize and praise all three of those men in his speech. So why not ask that question—directly and without needless throat-clearing about the importance and necessity of change?
The answer is that Schumer and his, wait for it, ilk, want no parts of a progressive with some fire in their belly making that speech. And, yes, Schumer selected Slotkin to make the speech. The Corporocrat Party remains the Democratic Party. It/they suck.
Everybody Wants Federal Workers Except The Feds. DC. Maryland. Virginia. Pennsylvania. Delaware has Federal workers. Isn’t it time we reached out, especially since we have quite a few jobs that have been left unfilled?
Sad. Not enough Trump-loving DOJ lawyers to defend all the lawsuits:
The Justice Department is pressing its lawyers to take immediate transfers to the division getting deluged defending Trump policies from lawsuits.
DOJ tax and civil rights attorneys are among those receiving messages from their bosses in recent days encouraging them to apply for temporary details to the civil division units responsible for protecting the president’s agenda, according to emails reviewed by Bloomberg Law.
The outreach includes three different tax division leaders amplifying the opportunities in under 24 hours. It reflects a staffing urgency at a time when DOJ attorneys have struggled to justify the legality of Trump’s torrent of executive actions. Judges have disparaged department lawyers attempting to defend the administration’s birthright citizenship order, ban on transgender troops, and empowerment of Elon Musk’s government efficiency team.
The hiring surge, which is also open to external candidates under an exemption to Trump’s government-wide hiring freeze, comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a Day One memo threatening to discipline or terminate attorneys who won’t zealously advocate for Trump’s policy desires. She referred to them as the president’s lawyers.
The memo and other Trump DOJ actions eroding career employee job protections have created an environment that’s caused many attorneys inside and outside the department to react with derision to openings for typically highly-coveted legal posts.
Several lawyers, speaking on condition of anonymity to offer candor, said there is no desire to advance arguments supporting what they called illegal White House directives.
Spotlight Delaware Explains Everything You Need To Know about The Power Grid. A true public service.
Gov. Meyer Proposes Energy Reforms:
The governor on Wednesday outlined several incoming executive actions that focus on Delaware’s energy dilemma.
These actions include demanding an immediate bill rate adjustment for Delmarva Power customers affected by the spike in costs.
During a special Senate session in February, Delmarva Power attributed these increases to the cold winter months. The utility company said temperatures were an average of 10 degrees colder year-over-year in January, leading customers to use more power on heat than they typically do.
Gov. Meyer also committed to appointing a new Delaware Public Advocate, who will “aggressively challenge unfair rate hikes and improve transparency for consumers,” while also reappointing a Public Service Commissioner who will “focus on strengthening oversight and protecting Delaware ratepayers.”
The governor, while committing to working with legislators on consumer relief objectives and protections, also pledged to review and overhaul the Public Service Commission dispute resolution process to “ensure that ratepayers have a transparent, responsive system to challenge unfair charges.”
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer on Wednesday said he is in search of a new Public Advocate who will take a more aggressive approach when advocating for affordable utility bills on behalf of consumers.
“Just as aggressively as Delmarva Power presents a case for its rates, we have to make sure the Public Advocate and Public Service Commission are protecting ratepayers and trying to get rates as low as possible,” Meyer said. “It appears that’s not happening. There are a number of problems [causing high bills] and we want to get to the heart of the problem and take action.”
What do you want to talk about?
you have to give the repubes credit, at least they have an agenda – chaos, destruction, facism. dems just want to keep their jobs and gravy train
You left out graft. The chaos is cover for the graft.
Looks like we all may be hiding Ukrainians in our attics soon:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-revoke-legal-status-ukrainians-who-fled-us-sources-say-2025-03-06/
I get the feeling there is more to this story.
https://spotlightdelaware.org/2025/03/05/wilmington-may-pull-funds-from-public-access-partner-detv/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=%F0%9F%8F%B3%EF%B8%8F%E2%80%8D%E2%9A%A7%EF%B8%8F%20GOP%20senator%20alerts%20feds%20over%20transgender%20sports%3B%20Wilmington%20may%20pull%20DETV%20funds&utm_campaign=3%206%2025%20Newsletter
Not hard to read between the lines. Bad blood between Thomas and the Congos.
Yep, that jumped out at me, too.
Which reminds me, when are we gonna see the audit of all that opioid money that BHL sent the Congos’ way?
The fraud isn’t in how they spent the money, it’s in pretending that handing out this money for educational campaigns is doing fuck-all to prevent overdose deaths.
Yet I see them taking credit for the year-by-year drop in deaths, when there’s not a shred of evidence of causality.
Remember the DETV dude that I started this post with got a potful of POSDC cash for “education”
Me thinks that the tussle is more than what you pointed out though it looks to be part of it. Is DETV a house organ or a news source?
Well, both the Congos and DETV got (d)opioid funding thanks to the largesse of BHL.
The plot sickens…
To me, that’s the problem. They simply handed out money to all the same people whose hands are always out.
On a hopeful note , the move of POSDC from Lt. Gov To the control of DHHS and the AG continuing is a solid move, Joanne Champney as co chair with Jennings and the appointment of a highly qualified Executive Director , Brad Owens who has extensive experience with Prison and re entry based treatment is a welcome shift in priorities I am confident will be a plus.
“Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” Bessent said during a speech to the Economic Club of New York
hahahahah, basically trump will do nothing about inflation, rising costs, etc.
They’re just trying to raise the price of pitchforks so they’re unaffordable to the peasants.
As per usual, Kowalko’s bluster masks his total ignorance. His FOIA appeal over the Newark field was full of shit: https://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/2025/03/03/25-ib15-3-03-25-foia-opinion-letter-to-the-honorable-john-kowalko-iii-et-al-re-city-of-newark/
I’d respond, but he’s already banned for being a pompous ass.
Hence, I won’t respond.
That’s one way to look at it. Another would be that the city manager form of government is a handy way to avert FOIA laws, since the manager is just a “city employee,” albeit one with the most power of anyone in the city, publicly elected officials included.
For an analogy, Musk is behaving like a city manager.
The park was stopped though, was it not?
Yes it was. Bluster for bluster’s sake from a serial windbag.
I understand your desire to pile on, but John Flaherty was also among those who filed the petition, which preceded the decision on Feb. 12 to withdraw – not kill, withdraw – the proposal.
Is he a blustering serial windbag too?
Reading the opinion, the complaint cited a statute that does not exist. Kowalko and Merlet were complainants 1 and 2.
Didn’t say they weren’t.
And I don’t see where it says the statute doesn’t exist. As I read it the city simply says the statute doesn’t apply.
The AG’s opinion (not the City’s) reads:
“There is no evidence in the parties’ submissions that this group of City and Newark Charter School employees was “established by an act of the General Assembly of the State, or established by any body established by the General Assembly of the State, or appointed by any body or public official of the State or otherwise empowered by any state governmental entity.”
It’s very settled law that staff members are not a public body. Otherwise, how would any entity be able to get anything done without holding a public meeting? Kowalko knows this and spun a conspiracy theory to cover his claims. As a former journalist, Alby should know this.
And really, criticizing the city manager form of government? What’s the alternative? A strong mayor form would have the same issue. Every meeting of the mayor cannot be a public meeting, else they wouldn’t get anything accomplished.
While the city manager system is better than a strong mayor, it’s not perfect, and its exemption from FOIA on that basis is a flaw. I never meant to say it was a fatal flaw.
There are specific situations in which FOIA does not apply in a mayor-in-charge system. If I read this opinion correctly (which I might not be doing), no meeting between a city manager and private entities would be covered.
My point is that y’all seem more interested in shitting on Kowalko than curtailing backroom dealing.